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RMAC officials reviewing video of Mavs’ loss

The Colorado Mesa University football team went back to work Monday after a heartbreaking loss at New Mexico Highlands.

Mesa coach Joe Ramunno, though, wasn’t sulking over what could have been.

“We had a lot of positive things happen,” Ramunno said. “It was the little things that took us out of it. It was a hard loss, but we’re going to learn from it.”

There were clock issues on Highlands’ final drive when the Cowboys scored the winning touchdown with 11 seconds left in a 41-38 victory Saturday over the Mavericks. The clock stopped after a run play, even though the ball carrier was tackled inbounds. Four seconds were taken off to compensate for it.

Also, there was a question about a possible fourth Highlands timeout called in the second half, one more than is allowed by rule.

RMAC officials are reviewing video of the second half of Mesa’s game against Highlands for any timeout or clock management errors, but a determination won’t likely be made until later this week.

“It’s the fifth-down syndrome thing,” Colorado Mesa Athletic Director Butch Miller said. “You can’t go back. I’m proud the team gave themselves a chance to win. (The RMAC) will go over the film with the (officials’) evaluator. My biggest concern is it gets fixed (so it doesn’t happen again), but you couldn’t see four timeouts being called on tape.”

Monday, RMAC Commissioner J.R. Smith told The Daily Sentinel one of the timeouts could have been an officials’ timeout for an injury to a Highlands player, but he had not initially seen enough video proof to make any determination.

Injury Update

Mesa running back Jake Cimolino injured an ankle in the third quarter against Highlands and missed the rest of the game, but could be back in the lineup for the Mavs’ homecoming game Saturday against Western New Mexico. A decision isn’t expected until later this week.

“Jake is better than expected,” Ramunno said. “It looks a lot more promising.”

Redshirt freshman quarterback Steve Romero was in pads Monday and Ramunno expects him back this week. Romero sprained his right shoulder against Nebraska-Kearney and didn’t make the trip to Las Vegas, N.M.

Chris Henderson played well in his absence, completing 22 of 35 passes for a season-high 374 yards.

Homecoming festivities

Former football coach Bob Cortese will be in town this week for the Colorado Mesa University Hall of Honor ceremony.

His 1982 team will be inducted, along with former women’s basketball coach Steve Kirkham. The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the University Center Ballroom. A social hour begins at 5:30 p.m.

The majority of the football team is planning to attend the ceremony, Cortese said earlier this month after the class was announced.

Cortese will be signing copies of his book, “Beyond the X’s and O’s” from 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday at the bookstore in the University Center before the Mavericks play Western New Mexico at 1 p.m. at Stocker Stadium.